Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

FIERRAVANTI-WELLS () (): I move general business notice of motion No. 1259:

(1) That the Senate notes that:

(a) the interim report of the Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation for its inquiry into the exemption of delegated legislation from parliamentary oversight was tabled on 2 December 2020 and the final report was tabled on 16 March 2021;

(b) the reports contain recommendations of vital importance, including in relation to the ongoing exemption of significant COVID-19 response measures from disallowance by the Parliament; and

(c) the government responses to both reports are now significantly overdue.

(2) That there be laid on the table by the Attorney-General, by no later than 6 pm on Monday, 22 November 2021, the government responses to the interim and final reports of the Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation for its inquiry into the exemption of delegated legislation from parliamentary oversight.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The reports by this committee covered matters that impacted a number of portfolios. The government's responses require extensive consultation across a number of departments and offices. The government will be tabling its response to each of these reports in the coming weeks, and it will guarantee they are tabled no later than 22 November 2021.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The bipartisan Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation has an admirable track record of defending the Senate's duty as the house of review. The Australian people deserve nothing less. This motion results from subsection 476(2) of the Biosecurity Act 2015, which allows the minister to make the declaration of a pandemic without needing parliamentary approval. The minister may need to issue a pandemic declaration quickly, yet the parliament should come along afterwards and decide if that declaration was appropriate or not. The report that this motion is trying to shake loose is the government's response to the committee's recommendation that this regulation be made disallowable so that the parliament can do its job.

Yesterday I presented to the Prime Minister, and published on my website, 70 pages of data, facts and questions which prove beyond a doubt that the Morrison-Joyce-Hunt COVID measures are deeply flawed—which is what happens in the absence of parliamentary scrutiny. One Nation support the committee's recommendation, and we thank them for their work.

Question agreed to.